All the world’s not this stage for Ipswich's Moonlight

Thursday

Jun 26, 2014 at 5:25 PMJun 26, 2014 at 5:25 PM

By Dan Mac AlpineIpswich@wickedlocal.com

The show will go on, just maybe not in the Ipswich Performing Arts Center as originally planned.Moonlight Productions, the local, non-profit, community theater company had planned to use the center for its traditional summer musical production.This year Moonlight plans to perform "Honk!"Just one problem — School Superintendent William Hart, working on the advice of staff, has denied Moonlight use of the performing arts center because of "supervisory issues" stemming from last year’s production of "Pirates of Penzance."The Ipswich Performing Arts Center is attached to the high school and Hart oversees its administration, but it is a community asset.Hart said other "cultural community groups" would still be allowed to use the center.J.T. Turner, owner of Moonlight Productions, hopes to reverse the decision and has a meeting with Hart tentatively scheduled for Friday to continue discussions.The dispute has erupted on social media and in a letter campaign to Hart criticizing the decision and urging Moonlight be allowed to use the center."While it may be difficult to admit a mistake was made, clearly many of the voters and taxpayers in Ipswich would clearly support your reconsideration to allow a deeply valued Ipswich-based organization the paid use of the IPAC this summer," wrote Turner in a letter to Hart.Turner has been producing a summer musical for 18 years in Ipswich and ran the middle school drama department for five years."We’ve been told we can reapply for next year," said Turner. "Which I guess means we’ve been given detention, but we’re arguing against detention because we feel we’ve already paid.""We were disappointed in some supervision issues and they were told some time ago they wouldn’t be able to use the PAC center," said Hart, who said Jerry Dolan, director of fine arts at the high school, high school Principal Dave Dalton and the center’s director Scott Ames all recommended against Moonlight using the facility this year."I don’t want to go too deeply into all this," said Hart. "There were just supervision issues."Turner said he believes his company’s exile from the center stems from two incidents last year: A group of about 20 adults moved the high school’s grand piano off the stage and lowered it down into the orchestra pit and a 4th grader, who was helping paint backdrops, used the bathroom and decided to extend his painting skills to the stall, smearing blue paint on the walls."We moved the grand piano from the stage to the orchestra pit. It was done by adults, not kids. We lowered it by about 4 feet. We didn’t know the piano wasn’t supposed to be moved," said Turner. "We take full responsibility. We understand now that it is a very expensive piano."Turner noted Moonlight paid professional movers $500 to have the piano moved back.As for the unsolicited bathroom paint job, Turner said the mother brought her son down the next day and the son apologized and they cleaned up the paint to the custodian’s satisfaction."That little incident has blown up into ‘an act of vandalism,’" said Turner. "I guess it is, but we took care of it right away."Turner estimates some 50 Ipswich families will take part in the "Honk!" production and if not at the performing arts center then likely at the Town Hall, which has a much smaller stage, no dedicated seating and would require the company to rent lighting.Turner and Sandi Nelson, music director, draw a salary from the summer productions based on a percentage of the proceeds. Last year, Turner estimates he made $700 with "Pirates of Penzance."Moonlight has its own liability insurance."We can’t look at what ifs," said Turner. "We have to look at what actually happened. My solution has been, ‘Great. Let’s do a walk through with Scott Ames and the custodial staff and they can tell us what we can and what we can’t do.""Ultimately the folks in charge of the music and theater departments made a decision," said Hart. "I supported the decision and still support the decision."